Contagion
by The Great Susinko
Summary: It all starts one cold rainy night. A strange women stumbles into Angel Investigations and is unable it answer an important question. "What are you?" She is an anomaly and Angel hates anomalies. Too bad he's about to be buried neck deep in them.


It was a cold rainy night, barely above freezing, which was unusual for the normally warm Californian city of Los Angles. This was a night to be inside with a cozy blanket and a cup of warm coffee. No one knew this better than the employees of Angel Investigations. It had been a long and exhausting night, spent searching for the Fentral demon that had been going around eating people's pets and the occasional small child. The demon hadn't gone down easy and to say that everyone was exhausted was putting it mildly. Inside the old Hyperion Hotel that was the odd trio's base of operation, said trio were gathered around Cordelia's reception desk, drinking hot beverages and trying to dispel the chill that seemed to be lodged in their bones.

Cordelia was toweling herself off while shouting at Wesley as she went on her sixth tirade of the night.

"You do realize that I'm going to send you the bill for my dry cleaning, right? I can't believe you talked me into going down in that yucky sewer. Major ewww! You are also going to replace those shoes. Do you think I could ever wear them again! And don't get me started on what I'll need to buy to fix my hair...!", the brunette ranted.

Wesley tried his best to tune out the furious girl while he sipped his hot coffee. He sighed; it had been a long night indeed. Once again, the city had been saved from evil by their little rag-tag group and no one would ever know. It didn't seem fair. The former Watcher, now demon hunter, heard a deep chuckle from behind him. He turned and glared from over the rim of his coffee cup at the dark figure who was lurking in the shadows.

"Hey," Angel said, splaying his large hands in a gesture of pacification. "I have to put up with this too, remember?"

Cordelia glared venomously at the dark haired, souled vampire who just gave a small smile and picked up his own cup from the counter of the large front desk. The dark red liquid in the cup steamed in the chilly air of the hotel The contents would never be mistaken for anything other than what it was; blood. In this case, pig's blood.

"Um, excuse me." came an unsteady voice.

Angel, Cordy, and Wesley turned as one in surprise to face a small shivering women who was standing just inside the doors of the old hotel. They hadn't heard a sound from her entrance or approach. The women stared back at them with terrified eyes, her once nice clothing soaked, torn and dirty, her dark hair tangled and matted. She looked like she'd been assaulted.

Cordelia forced a strained smile on her face and tried to ignore her blinding headache. It had been a hellish week, literally, and her painful visions just kept on coming. However, no matter how bad she felt, this was a client who had what they needed. Money.

"Welcome to Angel Investigations. We help the hopeless. If that's you, I really hope you are the kind of hopeless that can pay." Cody said brightly and in a not so tactful way.

The strange women opened her mouth to speak, but no sound emerged. She shivered and huddled into her dirty leather coat, not meeting anyone's eyes. She seemed torn between staying and running back out into the dismal night. Wesley hurriedly put down his cup and started forward, a kind and concerned look on his face. He hated to see a women in any sort of distress and this women definitely needed help.

"Let me help you with that Miss.", he said politely, hands held outward for the woman's filthy coat.

The women started violently at the sudden movement and backed up a few steps as the ex-Watcher came towards her. He stopped, a confused look on his face, at a loss at how to proceed. The girl had clearly been attacked by something and was absolutely terrified. Angel hovered in the background, deep in thought.

"No. No, that's alright. I shouldn't have bothered you... I'll just leave...," she said hoarsely, eying him with something akin to panic, clutching her torn clothing to her body.

Angel continued to study the young women. Something about her wasn't quite...right. Under the overpowering reek of mud, filth and blood, she didn't smell right. He couldn't put his finger on what it was, but something was off about this situation. If it was one thing the ancient vampire had learned over the years, it was to trust his gut feelings. Those instincts had kept him alive and out of bad situations for more times than he could easily count. He was startled out of his pondering when Wesley started to move toward the girl once more.

"Wesley, wait.", he strode forward and grasped the shoulder of his friend. Angel then turned his eyes to the new comer and hardened his features. "What are you?", he demanded tersely.

Wesley turned and gave Angel a confused look tinged with disbelief.

"What's with you Angel? I cannot believe that you would treat a young women who is obviously in great distress in such a disgraceful manner!", he said incredulously.

Cordelia looked at the women and then to Angel. "Angel.", she hissed loudly at the tense vampire. "How do you expect us to get any real money around here when you go all crazy on the clients? She then turned to the battered women who looked ready to faint. "Don't pay any attention to him. He's got issues, and when I say issues, I mean issues with a capital 'I'."

Angel ignored both of his colleagues and stepped in front of Wesley, pushing the smaller man behind him, despite his protests. He narrowed his eyes dangerously at the battered stranger.

"I said, What. Are. You?", he asked again, enunciating his words angrily and with a slight growl to his deep voice.

The women shrunk back even further from the sea of faces in front of her, dark eyes darting nervously from face to face. They finally settled on the tall man in the black duster who reclined in a deceptively casual manner against the hotel's check-in counter. The darkly handsome man was emanating danger and malice like a sidewalk radiated heat on a scorching summer's day. She tried to speak, failed and then swallowed and tried again.

"W-what am I?", she whispered. "I-I don't know..."

The atmosphere changed instantly, as if a light switch had been thrown. Wesley's eyes widened in surprise as he involuntarily took a step back. Angel instantly straitened and reached into his ankle length duster and pulled out a katana, seemingly from thin air.

"God Angel," said Cordelia who was still behind the counter and apparently unconcerned or unaware of the potential danger. "Where do you put that thing – wait, never mind. I really don't wanna kno- ANGEL!"

Angel, at the shriek of his name, whirled to face the Seer. The striking brunet's eyes were wide and she was frantically gesturing at one of the large guilt framed mirrors that hung in the entryway of the hotel. Angel looked, momentarily confused as to what she was trying to get him to see. He could see Wesley's confused face reflected in the mirror as he tried to figure out what was wrong with Cordy. Angel, being a vampire, was not reflected in the mirror. The strange girl wasn't either.

Angel whirled around, his coat flaring out behind him, looking for all the world like the unfurling of bat wings. He settled easily into a sword fighting stance, katana raised and ready. Wesley gasped in surprise, his mind grasping the situation a few seconds after the other man. He fumbled for the wooden stake in the pocket of his short leather coat.

"Foul vampire! I command you to leave these premises at once!", he shouted at the violently trembling girl as he suddenly yanked his stake free, nearly dropping the weapon in his haste. The 'foul vampire' looked at him in shock and backed up, until she was cowering in a corner of the dimly lit hotel.

"And that's gonna make her leave because of why?", Cordi asked nervously as she slowly backed away from the their unwelcome guest.

"Maybe it will, maybe it won't." purred Angel in a silky voice that promised violence. He expertly twirled the sword in his hand, the light reflecting off the razor sharp steel. "But I'm sure that this", he gestured with his weapon, "would be a good incentive."

The girl however did not appear to be listening or paying attention to the irate vampire. She stared blankly at them in shock, her eyes having the look of a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck.

"I-I-I'm a va-va-vampire?", she stuttered in fear and disbelief.

"I said, begone, Childe of the Night!", roared the ex-Watcher who darted forward slightly, stake raised.

The movement seemed to snap the strange vampire out of her shocked daze. She looked at the smaller man and then took in the dangerous look in Angel's eyes as he started forward, swishing his sword in a way that clearly showed he was an expert with the deadly weapon. The intense fear caused the distraught women to vamp. The change caused her to jump and feel at her face as she stumbled, scurrying backwards toward the doors, eyes never leaving the two men. She paused at the threshold and opened her mouth to ask one last question.

"H-How...?", she started to ask as Angel, patience gone, rushed forward, his preternatural speed making it almost impossible for the humans' eyes to follow the movement. The girl let out a squeak and fled into the night.

"What do you think that was all about Angel?", Wesley asked as he tried to put his stake away with his hands shaking uncontrollably. It had been a long night and he was beyond exhausted. This little surprise was very unwelcome. "Rather unusual behavior for a vampire, isn't it?"

"I'm not sure.", the souled vampire replied, staring thoughtfully at the hotel's doors . "She was probably just trying to play us, trying to get our defenses down. Vampires love playing sick little mind games. I should know. I was the best at it."

Wesley grunted as he finally steadied his hands enough to put his stake away and then removed his glasses. He buffed them with a handkerchief he took from the pocket of his shirt, a nervous habit he had never been able to get rid of.

Cordelia splayed her hands out on her desk and leaned forward.

"All I know is that that was freaky. Wesley, can't you put some kind of spell on the doors that would make any vampire's head, like, explode if they tried to enter?" she begged in a hopeful voice.

Wesley paused in cleaning his glasses and gave the women an astonished glance. "I would rather think that Angel would object to something like that."

"Well, he could deal, right? I mean, that thing could have come right up and chomped me on the neck. There is no way I'm gonna put up with that with the salary I'm getting." she retorted.

Angel gave her an inscrutable look as he slid the sword back into concealment beneath his long coat with practiced ease.

Wesley, I'm going to go – Chomped?", Angel repeated, looking at Cordi quizzically. He shook his head and began again. "I'm going to go out and keep an eye on our new friend. Something's not right here."

He barely waited for Wesley's nod before gliding over to the doors and disappearing into the cold rainy night.

"Be careful Angel.", the demon hunter whispered.

* * *

Angel flitted from shadow to shadow across the rooftops, stalking the women with the ease that comes from centuries of being the ultimate predator. It was pathetically easy to follow the strange vampire, even without his enhanced hearing. The female vampire was making enough noise to wake the dead, no pun intended. He winced at the volume of the angry shrieks from the girl below.

This creature was obviously a newly Risen Childe and no mere minion. Creating a Childe was more difficult, but the new vampire would be intelligent, powerful, and a genuine part of a Family. Minions were much easier to create but were stupid, brutish, and really only useful as cannon fodder. Angel easily jumped across the eight foot gap between two buildings as he watched the woman's face morph back into it's human visage.

'Where is her Sire?', he mused silently. It made no sense to invest all that energy and effort into making a Childe and then just abandon her without even rudimentary knowledge of how to survive. The large man was amazed that a vampire who had the knowledge and power to create a Childe could have entered his city and gone unnoticed by his network of demon informants. And the way she acted. He had never heard of a vampire who didn't instinctively know what she was after she had Risen. The girl acted so...human... He smirked as he watched her shout and gesticulate wildly.

"Gabriel?! Gabriel?! Where are you, you stupid sonofabitch! What the hell did you do to me?!", she yelled heatedly, kicking trash cans in her anger.

Angel kept quiet like only the dead can as the young vampire paused to catch her metaphorical breath, although he was fairly certain that he could run past her, screaming with his hair on fire and she wouldn't notice in the hysterical state she was in. He glanced around at the windows in the buildings that surrounded them. The elder vampire was surprised that no one had come out to investigate what all the uproar was about. Of course the humans could be laying low so that they wouldn't attract the attention of the seemingly insane women ranting in the dreary street below.

"How could I be so STUPID!", the Childe snarled, scraping the filthy hair out of her eyes. She suddenly stopped her violent attack on the innocent trash cans and sank to the ground in the middle of the deserted road. The female vampire bent down until her forehead was touching the ground, strange laughing sobbing noises emanating from her bent form. Morphing back into her game face, she threw her head back, heedless of the pouring rain and screamed with the cry of a tormented animal.

"GABRIEL! I TRUSTED YOU!" she yelled into the uncaring night. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" She dropped her head to her chest and Angel could see tears streaming down her face as the storm tossed her hair. He had to strain to hear her whispered, "I thought you were my friend."

Angel stared at the young women, no young vampire, in amazement. She was either the best actress that he had ever seen, or she wasn't faking. She wasn't acting like any vampire he had ever seen. It was almost like she wasn't a demon at all... He shook his head. Preposterous. He had seen her vamp himself. Twice. Still. Something was obviously off about this vampire. Something wasn't right, didn't smell right, didn't feel right. Angel shook his head. He didn't like anomalies in his city and this girl was an anomaly. Things always seemed to go to hell when they occurred and Angel had already spent enough time in Hell to last him for the rest of his long immortal life. He would figure out this little puzzle even if he had to rip apart this strange new vampire to do it.

* * *

I've had this story idea written down for quite a long time. I hope you all enjoy it! ^_^

Disclaimer:

I don't own Angel. I am not making money off of this.


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